Plant and animal foods were usually available despite the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada’s unpredictable environment. Failure of some Indians to adapt to unanticipated food shortages or severe weather resulted in starvation and population decline, but Native American culture persisted, and survivors learned from the misfortunes of others. Survival was tied to an intimate knowledge of the landscape and its resources in “good times” and “bad times.”
The people traveled to different life zones in order to exploit seasonally available foods, and they had alternative foods if a preferred food was unavailable. Abundance of foodstuffs was frequently spotty and often required travel into their neighbors’ territories in order to collect a particular food. Permission to trespass was asked for and usually given, as the situation could be reversed the following year. Good relations with neighboring groups were essential and also bolstered by exogamy (marriage outside one’s own group).
